Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[AttungaCatt]

Hi,
This is my 1st time using forum and am seeking help regarding my research on my late father-in-law's years in RN as a P.O. Canteen Manager. I need clarification on 3 entries on his service record which have him on/at:
HMS Orlando (Usk): What I have found so far is HMS Usk K295, Frigate of the River class, Commissioned 14 Jul 1943, and HMS Orlando was:-
1) shore facility located in Navy House, Greenock, Headquarters Flag Officer Clyde,
2) a gunnery school, which could have been established within the facility,
3) a secret base as it was used for intelligence and gunnery training,
4) a Royal Navy Medical Unit or Hospital.
HMS Cormorant (Usk) a floating hulk base ship at Gibraltar
HMS Nile (Usk) Royal Navy base at Ras el-Tin Point, Alexandria, Egypt

My questions are:
- does this record entry mean my f-i-l remained part of the Usk's crew or would he have been on the associated land base?
- If it means the land base, where does it place him in Gibraltar as it was another ship?
- Regards Greenock, does anyone know what the shore establishment actually was, or could it have been the multiple facilities suggested?
- The dates of these postings has the HMS USK on convoys, so how does the associated land base fit in with that?

Any clarification would be appreciated as I am attempting to write a book for his descendants to gain a glimpse of what he and his mates experienced!
Cheers
AttungaCatt

[spooks1959]

Hi,

As you correctly surmise, the three shore base are all linked to the Frigate USk as they were the accounting bases responsible for carrying the Pay and Victualing accounts of smaller vessels in a particular command. Your father-in-law would have been serving  aboard USk s she passed from one command to another.

[AttungaCatt]

Thankyou Spooks1959 for the prompt response regards the HMS Usk. Now I can confirm the convoys he must have been on, rather than having him on a shore establishment.

Do you know what shore establishment HMS Orlando was? One or all of the listed facilities at Greenock? He was assigned to the RN hospital in Australia for a time so if Orlando was also a hospital, it would be good to know.

On another note, would any of the records from Pay and Victualing have survived to enlighten us of the actual role performed by any given rating or officer? My f-i-l apparently was originally in N.A.A.F.I then N.C.S before 1.8.1942 general enlistment into RN by the Admiralty. Starting to unearth evidence of a variety of roles he held in shore establishments he was based in towards end of war, but would like to know if it is worth pursuing any documentation trail that supports his service record of just dates and ships/bases which only starts from 1.8.1942 even though he 'went to sea' at 15yrs old before Sept 1939.
Sorry if this is in incorrect thread.
Cheers

[spooks1959]

I can answer some of your additional questions...

HMS USK was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet and was on station by late June 1945, at this time I should imagine the ship would be on the accounts of  an accounting base such as HMS GOLDEN HIND (Sydney). There were two RN hospitals in Australia, one in Sydney and another in Brisbane do you know which he was a patient in?

It may be worth requesting a summary of his naval service from the Ministry of Defence since this is compiled exclusively from his pay and victualing records and so it will state the name of the establishment/ship responsible for his pay and food. This may be very different from the list in his certificate of service and it should start from basic training through to his demob.. You can request the summary from my requesting service records page, see section 3. http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/Records_page.htm You will need to get an international money order or banker’s draft to s=cover the £30 fee though.

I hope this helps.

[AttungaCatt]

Thanks again for your response and answer to my query about paper trail of his service details. Weeks ago I sent a 'request for service personnel details: next of kin form (v6)' hoping for more info than what his Certificate of Service and  War Gratuity, Post War Credit and Release Leave papers reveal. Hope they send everything they can find and not just Cert of Service.
 I also contacted the NAAFI but unfortunately they do not hold records after 10years so no way of knowing where he was assigned until he was posted to HMS Dido in Sept '40. We can only assume he was on some land base in UK until then. What a loss of information!
I understand that as he was NAAFI/NCS and not enlisted RN crew (until 1.8.42), he was assigned to multiple ships and bases before and after his time with HMS Usk. I assumed he worked at the RNH in Sydney rather than being a patient as I am not aware he was injured/ill since the Battle of Crete in '42 on HMS Dido. I will now await results of the MoD search and hope more is revealed.
Thank you for the help and generally for the service the website provides to those wanting to 'not forget' what our servicemen and women achieved.
Kind Regards